Dakotah's Preschool Graduation

The Little Graduate
Miss Caroline and Grace

The preschool class

Ariel and Miss Caroline




Ayianna and Miss Caroline

Dakotah and Miss Candace

Dakotah and Ariel

Paige and Trista were doing fine until they looked out and saw how many parents were in the audience...so they "graduated" while sitting on Mommy Debbie's knee!










Dakotah and Auntie YaYa

The party afterwards..yum yum

And last but certainly not least Princess Belle, who is Ariel's sister.

Jaime has adored Belle almost all their lives...lol..

I have been very neglectful of my blog this summer. Time just seems to rush by and of course we had a bit of nice weather which tends to make me want to be outside more. Actually being outside became a necessity when we hit record breaking temperatures. For several days in a row it was well over a hundred degrees on my lanai. But that is a distant memory now as we have spent the last week or more in our usual mix of cloud, showers and the occasional sunny break. Today it is very grey and yucky outside and I actually had my jacket on when I was outside earlier. I have my fingers crossed that this is not the start of winter and 10 months of inclement weather!

I am going to go back and start posting some photos and events from the past couple of months. Mid June Dakotah graduated from preschool. A big occasion for a five year old and she was very pleased when both her Mother and Father were able to get time off of work to come and then really surprised when Auntie YaYa came too!

White Rock

The beach with Marine Drive residences in the background.

The beach at White Rock looking towards the pier. The tide was out and there was miles of sand. The dogs would have loved it but they are not allowed on the beach until the end of September. The houses in the next two photos are the view from the beach looking back across the street. The street is Marine Drive. When I was a little girl we had a summer cottage one street up from Marine Drive. The townhouses and multiplex dwellings were not there then. The fish and chip restaurants were, though. The one we visit is called Coney Island. I have been eating there since i was less than two years old. The ownership has changed many times, one time it burnt down and was rebuilt, but still it survives and still we visit whenever we are in White Rock.

Me with the ocean and sandbars in the background. There were a few folks out by the water but not many. I think White Rock and their warmer temperatures is a closely guarded secret...shhhh.... I know when I lived in the area for many years it was a lot warmer, got little if any snow, many more hours of sunshine a year and rarely any fog.

These gorgeous flowers are on the pathway leading down to the beach! I am not sure what they are but they sure are pretty!

If you look really closely, you will see the "white rock" in the back right of the photo...this is the rock the beach was named for. Also, when I was a teenager, on grad night grad students from other schools would come and put graffiti all over the white rock and it was up to our schools graduating class to go down and paint over it all!!

From Wikipedia, here is the legend of the White Rock... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rock,_British_Columbia

"The white rock in White Rock
The large, white rock figures prominently in narratives of the local Coast Salish native peoples. One legend holds that the Transformers, emissaries of the Sagalie Tyee, the Creator, once passed. Another legend holds that the white rock marks the landing spot of a stone that was hurled across the Strait of Georgia by a young Indian chief. It was said that he and his bride would move from Vancouver Island to wherever the rock landed to make a home together. It was their descendants who became the Semiahmoo first nation. ('Semiahmoo' is the Coast Salish word for 'half-moon', describing the shape of the bay.) "

"White Rock is named for a distinctive large white boulder found on its beach near the promenade: a glacial erratic that migrated south during the last glaciation. The 486-ton granite boulder was kept white by shellfish-eating seabirds, whose guano covered the rock, so much so that sailors in the 19th century used it as a beacon. However, it now remains white through frequent applications of white paint by the city parks department, as it has been a popular graffiti target for over thirty years."

This would be me with the ocean in the background. I love the ocean!




A seagull caught in mid flight. There are tons of seagulls there as across the street from the beach is a row of fish and chip restaurants (yummy) and a lot of folks buy their food and bring them to the picnic tables overlooking the beach. The seagulls then harass them for their food!



The picture above is a view from the Winfall prize home we had gone to view in the White Rock area. We love looking at these hospital lottery prize homes and go to quite a few of them each year.

It is hard to believe we are almost half way through August...well the 13th is close to half way through! Summer seems to be galloping to a close. We had some very hot weather for these parts, broke a few records, but are back to our usual cool weather and showers now. I am hoping summer is not over yet. I was listening to one of the US TV stations earlier and they said it will be going back up to the 80's in the Seattle area next week. Fingers crossed that includes us as well. We have been doing some of the outdoor work lately. Actually I have been watching kids but hubby has been working outside. He has put in the stairs to the sundeck and the stairs down the side of the house. Both are big improvements. Now if he could just get to the railings. It seems it is hard to get quotes...two companies have not shown up for scheduled appointments to give an estimate this week.
We took a trip down to White Rock beach on Sunday. It was not very nice in town but was lovely down there. The sun was out and the ocean water was even warm! I could have spent the day had I thought to wear lighter clothing.

Pink Saturday At Disneyland!

Well, I am happy to be back again for Pink Saturday! Summer has been very busy so far. I have travelled to Disneyland in June, the weather was not great but I had a lovely time with friends. Recently we spent 3 nights at the Harrison Hot Springs resort...again the weather turned wicked the day after we checked in...seems to be the way my summer adventures are going this year!!



Along the way I was busy trying to snap "pink" pictures for Pink Saturday and will share a few now!

along the one side is a photo of a gorgeous hanging basket of pink fuchsias at the Plaza Restaurant in Disneyland.

A darling t-shirt I saw in one of the shops

This Lovely American Girl doll named "Gwen" came
home with me from the A/G Place store in LAAs she was in the land of palm trees, she donned her grass skirt! Pretty in pink!

Candy apples in the candy shop that look like Mickey and Minnie!
OK...I am having issues with moving photos...they will NOT move for some reason!!! Today's offerings are from things around Disneyland...beautiful flowers, hanging baskets, pinks Minnie candy apples (too cool!) and a lovely tile wall located in Disney's California Adventure Park. I hope you enjoy all the photos and maybe by next week I will figure out what has changed and why the photos will not move for me! Thanks for popping by!



Mosaic tile wall in Disney's California Adventure

gorgeous bougainvillea, I saw it quite a few times and it is a personal favorite of mine!

The above photo is from the hotel. the Sheraton Park hotel has lovely landscaping! Thanks to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting Pink Saturday and be sure and stop by her blog! The link is in my sidebar! Thanks for stopping by and everyone have a wonderful PINK SATURDAY!

Queens Park Block Party

One of our local TV stations, CTV, hosted a large Block Party in our Town on Wednesday night. I took both of the kids to it and had not suspected the rest of the town would be there also as it started at 4...the line ups were incredible but we stood and were finally issued tickets for a collectible Olympic pin and a dinner sponsored by Mr. Mike's restaurant. The kids had a great time and collected their Olympic pins and went in the bounce house, got balloons etc. Then we joined another huge line for the dinner. It was very good. I had the opportunity to take Dakotah's picture with Tamara Taggart from the TV station and it was actually kind of funny as their clothing colors matched! I am having issues moving the photos...they will not move so I will leave them as they are for now and just publish as is...

the bounce house
Tamara Taggart from CTV News and Dakotah

Mayor Wayne Wright and Tamara Taggart

RIP Michael Jackson

What a sad week it has been in Hollywood. First Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson's sidekick on the Tonight Show, who then went onto host his own show Star Search and launched many young careers passed on. It was not too much of a shock as he was 86 and had been in hospital fighting pneumonia for awhile.

Then on Wednesday night I heard that last rites had been given to Farrah Fawcett, a 62 year old actress who has been courageously and valiantly fighting cancer for the past few years and she died early Thursday morning (June 25). Again, this was not too much of a shock as it has been reported the last few weeks that her time was coming near and the poor lady had fought such a good fight for so long so it wasn't really a shock for her to be passing on. Very sad but not a shock.

I went out for a bit yesterday afternoon and came home to my email box being flooded with emails that Michael Jackson had died. At first it was quite unbelievable. He was only 50 years old...he was going to be doing a 50 concert "come back" tour in England next month. How could he possibly be in my email messages as being dead? But it is true, the Legendary Pop Icon has died. Now this death is a shock. I grew up listening to Michael. I remember seeing him on TV when he was just a little boy. I remember him crooning ABC and I was especially fond of a song he sang named "Ben". Such a sweet song as long as you didn't know it was about a rat... Thinking back, the last vinyl record I ever bought was Thriller. By 1982 I was busy raising my first son and pregnant with my second and for many years there after, I didn't even really know records existed....but I did know about Thriller...I loved it then and I still do now. Last year I was in a swap on one of my doll loops and we got to talking about which recording artists we liked and I mentioned I always loved Michael Jackson's Thriller. I was so surprised when my swap gift arrived and in it was the 25th anniversary edition CD and DVD of Thriller. As we no longer have record players, it meant I could enjoy an old favorite again. And I did not long ago. Now with Michael passing on, I went looking for the old vinyl recording. And I still have it. It wasn't played much, I didn't have time in those days and didn't have a record player in later days but I held onto the album all these years anyways. Personally, I always liked Michael Jackson. I could never quite understand what possessed such a good looking young man to turn his face into such a plastic surgery nightmare mess....but then he probably had hoped for a better result when he did it. But why he did it in the first place is a mystery to me. And watching him over the years it always struck me what a sad and lonely person he seemed to be. And what a sad early life he had with no childhood. But he was such a talent and he left such a wonderful legacy to the world. So many of today's artist's try to emulate his style of dancing. No one does it quite like Michael though. His music video of Billy Jean was finally allowed to be shown on MTV, who in those days did not present black performers on their shows apparently and it was an instant hit, which allowed other black recording artists to be shown on their shows as well. In death I see everyone everywhere saying such nice things about him and how much they thought of him but on one CNN report yesterday, I saw one person in his inner circle make the comment "Where were all these people yesterday?" (meaning Wednesday before he died). It kind of summed up the poor man's life. It seems as though he had to die for everyone to say nice things about him. How sad, how tragic, it is too bad he isn't here to hear all these nice tributes, maybe he wouldn't have been such a sad and lonely person if they had come sooner. Rest in Peace, Michael.

DISNEYLAND: The Happiest Place on Earth...or is it?

DOES THIS LOOK LIKE THE FUN ONE EXPECTS WHEN VISITING DISNEYLAND AND PAYING THE BIG BUCKS FOR ADMISSION? Tourist prices for a one day pass are now a whopping $69. US dollars.

Main Street after the fireworks chaos June 18, 2009

My friends Loretta and Robert and I went on an adventure last week to what Disney bills as "The Happiest Place on Earth." Unfortunately, there were a few major glitches culminating in the most awful last night I have ever experienced in the Disneyland Park after going there for the last 20 years almost yearly. Saturday the 13th was our first day into the park, and while crowded, we did manage to do quite a bit. From there it got progressively worse...Sunday there were 60,000 people in the park (this from an employee of the park). Monday the park was closed at one point as it was over full. Tuesday was horrific for crowds so we started asking around to find out WHAT on earth was going on. Well, several people explained that Disneyland apparently was selling passes to Southern California residents at a monthly rate (16. - 20. dollars I was quoted) that is affordable for most and that their passes were expiring midweek and everyone was trying to get their last days in. Unfortunately they coincided with our FULL priced passes and the result was locals, tourists and chaos. Thursday we went in for early morning at 7 am and the park was pleasant. The crowds and lines were minimal and we went back to the hotel for a pool break around lunch time quite confidant that now that the Southern Cali passes were done, the park would be more manageable. Boy were we in for a nasty surprise. We had been sent to the large Mickey and Friends parking structure for early morning. The signage is poor and we went in in a round about way which was quite confusing for us in our rental car. We hoped this was just an early morning thing and that when we went back later in the afternoon we would be parked in a location that is easier to negotiate and not so confusing especially as by the time we planned on leaving it would be dark. We were also advised that the park would not be open regular hours. California Adventure was closing at 6:00 and Disneyland main park at 9. Disneyland was closed for "Grad night" and I was told California Adventure had been booked by something for the LA Lakers. They would be lighting the fireworks off at 8:45 before closing. While not happy of this and also not being told this when we purchased the passes, we figured we would make the most of our last night anyways. We went back to the park late afternoon and were once again directed to Mickey and Friends parking structure. At this point we figured perhaps this was because of the grad event later that night and perhaps they were using the other many parking lots for the grads. So, we parked and made our way into the park. We had a photo pass from the Disney photographers and this would be the last chance we would have to view the pictures their photographers had taken and get prints right away. (online service is available after you leave the park but of course you do not receive the prints right away). So, we went through the gate and Main Street was roped off here and there for the parade that was too be happening soon. There were a LOT of people already in place but we did manage to make our way to the photo pass place and view and buy our photos. Then we exitted and made our way to view a few of our favorite things. We waited for the train in New Orleans, two were full and they said the next would be by in 5 minutes. It wasn't...nor was it there in 10 or longer minutes so we gave up and took off on foot. By now the park is crowded everywhere. We made it to Tomorrowland which was another area in chaos and then proceeded to Main Street for the fireworks. By now it is dark. The crowds from everywhere in the park were now on Main Street as Fantasmic was cancelled for grad and there was really no incentive for anyone to be anywhere else except for the fireworks on Main Street. I have no idea of the total attendance that afternoon but am guessing there were in excesss of 40,000 people crammed into that one small area. The cast members were trying their best to keep everyone moving in the small walkways but it was an impossible thing to do with a mob that large. Being stuck in the middle of all those people, strollers, wheelchairs and scooters forced two of us into a state of panic and there was just no place to go. We finally fought our way to Adventureland to try and wait out the fireworks. Employees kept telling us to go further and furth into the area but all we wanted to do was to get out of the park and there was no way out. I have never in all my years of going there seen that many people jammed into one place. There were no diversions anywhere else in the park to divert anyone so everyone was in the same place. When the fireworks ended it was an absolute nightmare to negotiate and pretty near impossible to leave. We stood off for a long time in the hopes the crowd would thin but it didn't. Finally we managed to edge ourselves to the edge of the mob and made it to the Coke corner. It was now about 20 minutes after the parks official closing. Eventually they opened a door into a cast area and escorted a large group of us off of Main Street that way. Here are not often seen photo's of Main Street back stage....

But we still couldn't get out of the park as we were led out of the area back stage to an area near the Main Street Firehouse.. We managed to squeeze into an area near the washrooms by City Hall to wait for the crowds to thin. All the while thinking and remembering the trams to the ONLY parking structure open would only run for an hour after the official park close. Now all of this just begs the question....Where was the fire marshal? How can it possibly be legal to have so many people crowed into one area so small and so crowded a toothpick could not be inserted between them? And what would happen if there was an emergency? A fire? An earthquake or even an injury? There was no way to get into the middle of this mess and assist anyone injured and if a disaster had occurred, how many would have died? I am guessing a lot.

Now, back to the exiting of the park....we did eventually have to join the crowd and gingerly creep our way into the crowd to get out of the park but when we did another nightmare awaited us. There was only ONE parking place opened for everyone there and only one tram area to get the trams to get to the parking structure. Again, the people who left the park were are congregated into one area of Downtown Disney....who watches these people? What are the laws regarding public masses and crowd control? We again hovered around the edges and then realized we were at the hour after the park closing time and the trams were about to come to a screeching halt....we were fortunate enough to get on what was probably the last tram to the parking structure but Downtown Disney was still packed so a lot possibly did not. When we hit the tram parking at the garage, you can imagine our surprise to hear the thousands of grads being contained in an area of the parking garage awaiting entry and for us to see the big buses bringing more of them to the park into the same parking area the rest of us were in. Now what was the point of closing all the other parking lots that day I ask? Why would they not have spread all these people into the many parking lots and then they could be going into different sections so as not to have chaos? I guess only they know the answer to that one but stupidity jumps into my mind.

The grad buses rolling into the parking area...

OK, now before anyone reacts, I do get it. This is a recession and they are creatively marketing. Grad night is a tradition of Southern California and I imagine it is a really big deal for the lucky kids who are invited to attend the 11 pm to 6 am event but really....shouldn't we the tourists be advised when we book our passes that we may not be able to get in? Also, shouldn't it be in big letters across Disney's website that Southern California Passes are being mass marketed at bargain basement prices to residents and out of state and country tourists should expect monumental crowds, should expect to have their safety compromised, and maybe would be better visiting at a time when all this does not occur? Not only that, I learned from Park employees that the grad night tickets are costly, so in addition to all the money they took off of us tourists for the days admission and then cutting down the hours we were allowed into the park, they collected admissions for the second time that same day from approximately (according to Disney employees and hotel staff) 20,000 grad students. Now is this tough economic measures or pure greed? I will think carefully about returning after this experience and balance out whether the Disney experience is worth the safety risk. Smarten up Disney...you cannot have it all ways, this last week you have managed to make a very large number of tourists who paid a lot of money to come to your park mad. Not to mention the fact this is their vacation and they paid for things like hotels, airfare, shuttle buses, food etc to get to you folks who let us all down so badly. Let the tourists know before they plan to come these things are now the norm so they can make informed choices of if and when they want to come to your attraction.